Home > Carpet Making > Oriental Rugs Glossary

Wagireh: A small sampler rug, woven with the various designs and colors of the finished product. The wagireh will then be available to prospective buyers. They are frequently woven in the Bijar region.

Warp: Beginning part of a rug where wool, cotton or silk strands are attached to a Loom vertically, following the length of a rug. Comprising the structure, parallel wrap yarns run the length of the rug and are interlaced with wefts.

War Rugs: Rugs woven in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation in the mid 1980's. Subjects of these are of weapons include tanks, fighter planes, helicopters, grenades and guns.

Weft (Woof): The threads which are added in succession to the warp, crossing at right angles in the direction of the width of the fabric. In piled carpets they are invisible on the surface in kilims the wefts are the only threads visible.

Weft: Wool, cotton or silk strands inserted horizontally over and under the warp forming the foundation of the rug.

Weft-Faced: A rug where the weft yarns are more closely spaced than the warps.

Wilton: A British production center of machine made rugs. In 1825, the Wilton company took over the Axminster looms, and for the next one hundred years (until 1924) produced handmade rugs as well.

Wool Foundation: A rug is started with a wool warp and weft.